Saturday, January 9, 2010

Since 2006, Mexico's drug cartels have been trying to outdo each other with each act of violence. I thought they'd reached their peak with an incident in Caborca, Sonora, last year, when a group of narcos were sawed up limb by limb. Not so. Hugo Hernandez, a 36-year-old from Sonora, was found in the Sinaloan city of Los Mochis last week. His torso was found in a plastic container in one location; elsewhere another box contained his arms, legs and skull, according to the Associated Press. Seven pieces in total.

His face, meanwhile, had been carved off and stitched onto a soccer ball.

There is no comment for this, really. But consider how far we've come since 2006: decapitated heads on a dance floor, grenades into a crowd of revelers, limbs sawed off, heads left in coolers, bodies hanging from overpasses, mass executions in rehab centers, decapitated heads thrown out of airplanes – what the hell's next?

One psychologist estimates that 90 percent of Mexicans are sociopaths. The country has always been violent in certain parts, that's for sure, but the statistic is probably pushing it. But what happens when people witness this stuff every day? When this becomes "normal"? They become numb to it, surely. At times, it might even filter through by osmosis. We're a long way from the average Mexican walking over to his neighbor's house and chopping his head off, but I do wonder how kids and other impressionable humans are being affected by all this.

ps - Mexico City, with its tolerance and peace-and-love approach to society (even if like any big city it has its share of crime), seems more than a world away from pockets in other parts of the country these days.

2 comments:

What psychologist in his right mind would estimate 90 pecent of Mexicans are "sociopaths"? Seeing the term doesn't exist in medical diagnosis any more (DSM-IV uses "antisocial personality disorder" and the criteria for diagnosis include being over 18 years of age and indulging in behavior outside the norms of the culture... by definition that's statistically impossible.

yup, i believe said psychologist is indeed mad (perhaps my cautioned disagreement should have been stated in a stronger way, but i tend not to get excited even when i read and disagree with ridiculousness). he was trying to make the argument that society as a whole is falling apart. it was a bad argument, with bad evidence to "back it up"he was from the UNAM school of psychology – not sure whether it's a good school or not. i think i read it in La Jornada, it's possible they were just trying to get a good quote in there and called him.

About Me

I'm a 39-year-old freelance journalist/author, until recently based in Mexico City. I've written for Newsweek (with whom I was an editor from 2000 to 2007) Slate.com, Foreign Policy, Jane's Intelligence Weekly, FDI magazine, the Sunday Times, World Politics Review, Soldier of Fortune, The News (Mexico City), The Sun, Nogales International and the Haitian Times. I've written two books on Mexico's drug war, "The Last Narco," published September 2010, and "Hasta El Ultimo Dia," published in March 2012. I hold a Master's Degree in War Studies from the University of Glasgow.
I have provided commentary on the drug war for CNN, NPR, the BBC, The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, AOL News, CTV (Canada), Xinhua, El Universal and Reforma (Mexico) and several other publications and major news outlets.
I can be reached for requests for commentary/talks on the Mexican drug war at mbeithpublic@gmail.com
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